Safechuck v. MJJ Productions, Inc.
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The principal issue in these cases is whether two corporations, wholly owned by the late entertainer Michael Jackson, had a legal duty to protect plaintiffs from sexual abuse Jackson is alleged to have inflicted on them for many years while they were children. The corporations say they had no duty to protect plaintiffs from Jackson because of their corporate structure, that is, “because they had no ability to control Jackson—their sole owner—or his interactions with [plaintiffs]. Parties cannot be liable for neglecting to exercise powers they simply do not have.” The trial court sustained Defendants’ demurrer without leave to amend in Safechuck’s case and granted summary judgment to Defendants in Robson’s case. Both Plaintiffs appealed, and Robson also appealed a discovery sanctions order against his counsel
The Second Appellate District reversed. The court explained that following the guidance in Brown v. USA Taekwondo (2021) 11 Cal.5th 204 (Brown), it concludes that a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse. The court explained that while there is no comparable case law to recite it would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder. Thus the court reversed the judgments entered for the corporations. One of the plaintiffs also appealed a sanctions order and discovery rulings granting protective orders to nonparty witnesses. The court found no abuse of discretion in those rulings.
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